LOVES PARK — About 300 people — many of them teens — packed into the Harlem High School auditorium in Machesney Park on Feb. 2, 2013.

They were there for the funeral of Dillon Bunch, 17, who had been a junior at the school when he died.

Many friends lined up to go on stage to tell stories about Dillon.

“He was always making jokes, but at no one else’s expense.”

“His laugh sounds like he’s hyperventilating.”

A teacher said he was “a great kid. One of the most intelligent students I have had.”

No one on stage said a word about how Dillon died.

But his mother, Shannon Frye Voga, later said everyone knew, and the red ribbons that were placed around tables and elsewhere were a clue that it was drug-related. They were a nod to the national Red Ribbon Campaign that has promoted drug prevention education over the years in schools.

Dillon had spent the night at a friend’s house, his mother said. She tried to reach him by phone the next morning, but couldn’t, and later received a call telling her to go to the friend’s house right away.

A toxicology report showed Dillon’s system contained methadone, a substitute drug used in the treatment of heroin addiction, and Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication, she said.

Dillon routinely worked out at a gym, planned to join the Marines and would spend time with his little sister playing her keyboard, Frye Voga said. She said he likely had smoked marijuana at some time in his life. But he wasn’t a substance abuser. She would have seen the signs, she said. Dillon’s late dad abused alcohol. His older brother had been hooked on pain pills.

Frye Voga said she wishes that schools would do more to educate students about the bad things that drugs can do and that there would be more treatment programs to help those who are addicted.

After Dillon died, she said, she suffered an emotional breakdown.

“He was special to people,” she said. “A lot of people are there for you right at the start, but a lot of people go away.”